Madhu Knits and Cooks

A More Substantive and Comforting Vegetable Noodle Soup

I recently blanched and froze a lot of celery to use in soups, red beans and rice, and other stew-type dishes.  My first use of this frozen celery was in an updated version of the homemade vegan noodle soup that I've been perfecting over the years.  The key updates I made were adding in some Instant Pot-cooked chickpeas and a bit of turmeric, inspired by a Cookies and Kate recipe.  

This revised recipe was really fantastic - the light carrot, celery, and parsley flavors that one expects in a vegetable or chicken noodle soup, with a lot more substance from the added chickpeas.  This really was a great, comforting one-pot meal, though I couldn't help but serve it with some homemade bread as well :-)  Recipe follows the pictures of the final products.

Homemade Vegan Noodle Soup, v3

Approximately 3 - 4 main course servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup chopped (frozen) celery
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, cooked (or 1 can of cooked chickpeas)
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 6 cups water
• 4 tbsp. Better than Bouillon, any flavor you prefer
• 3 tbsp. parsley, minced
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup tiny pasta
• Fresh lemon juice, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• Parmesan, grated to taste

Directions:

• Heat oil in a soup pot on medium-high heat, and when hot, add the vegetables and salt.  Cook down for approximately 10 minutes or until the vegetables just start to brown
• Add chickpeas, bay leaf, turmeric, water, and Better than Bouillon, and raise heat to high to bring contents to a boil
• When the soup is boiling, add in the pasta and cook according to package directions
• Finish by seasoning with parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.  Add grated parmesan cheese if desired
• Serve immediately

The Delicious Book of Dhal - New Approaches to an Indian Staple

On a recent trip to the library, I decided to browse the cookbook and craft sections before checking out the books I had intended to pick up.  As I was looking through the stacks, I found a cookbook that I was truly not expecting.  The Delicious Book of Dhal, by Nitisha Patel, promised new approaches to a staple of every Indian meal that usually doesn't require formal recipes.  

Curious to see if there could truly be new ways to spice up Indian pulses, I added the book to my check out stack.  

Funnily enough, while the intention to try something new convinced me to check out the book, I ended up making only the book's simplest dal recipe - Patel's version of Dal Tadka, or just a simple cooked dal to which bloomed spices are added.

I cooked the dal in my Instant Pot, and the toor dal required only 6 minutes on high pressure before it was cooked.  Similar to other Instant Pot experiences I've had, using approx. 1.5 liters of water was a bit too much for the amount of dal so I had to drain some of it before proceeding.

I then prepared the tadka, or the stovetop pan with the spices that would ultimately flavor the dal.  The spices heating in oil definitely made our apartment - and entire apartment floor (sorry neighbors!) - smell like Indian food for several hours, but the results were very good.

I particularly liked the addition of lemon juice and brown sugar to add a tamarind-like sweet-and-sour flavors to the finished dal, reminding me that I have tamarind pulp in my freezer that I should be using more often!

So hat's off to Ms. Patel, though I still need to try her more complicated recipes to fully assess whether a cookbook adds much to this Indian staple.

Cauliflower with Scallions and Black Mustard Seeds - Cauliflower for a Crowd

In what appears to be a 4 - 5 year trend, I picked up Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking off the bookshelf thinking that it's been some time since I last tried this cookbook, maybe I should give it another try? 

This after an initial recipe attempt in 2010 - Potatoes Smothered in Shallots - which I declared "incredibly bland" and "fairly," and a more encouraging 2015 attempt of Gujarati-Inspired Dal, which has since become a kitchen staple (albeit with several modifications). 

Sadly, this latest 2019 effort more approximated the 2010 Sahni experience than the 2015 one. Perhaps because I again followed the directions fairly closely or maybe because this cookbook just isn't my cup of tea. 

In any case, the recipe I settled on - Cauliflower with Scallions and Black Mustard Seeds - was both a little too long to cook and a little too boring to ever really want to make again. 

It took longer than I expected to cook in that it took not only a long time for the cauliflower to become tender on the stove-top, but also for the water to evaporate in the dish to produce a non-soupy consistency (approx. 15 minutes after removing the cover from the steamed cauliflower). This after I tried to drain some of the cooking water out to expedite the process. And then the final result was a slightly too-mushy cauliflower from overcooking. 

The flavors of the dish were also just...fine. The curry leave flavor didn't come out until I reheated leftovers. The mustard seeds, turmeric and scallion flavors all did come through, but they didn't really wow me. If anything, it was too much mustard seed and turmeric - slight bitterness mixed with each of their distinctive aromas - and not enough other balancing flavors. 

So while this didn't require a lot of hands on time, I don't think this will be a recipe repeat unless I am looking for something relatively benign for a crowd.

Black Eyed Pea Tacos - A New Mexican-Inspired Side or Tortilla Filling

I've had a can of black eyed peas in my cupboard for some time (so much time that I think this can was part of an apartment move last year).  And while the can hadn't yet reached it's 2020 expiration date, I decided that enough was enough and I should finally remove it from its perch on the cupboard shelf high above.

The resulting improvised sauteed black eyed peas were a perfect filling for tacos, and I think they would also be good as an enchilada filling or one their own as a side dish.  They had a nice kick from the spices, a hearty yet soft texture, and a nice tartness from the tomato and onion.  And while the spices initially seemed to overwhelm the flavor of the black eyed peas, as the mixture cooled a bit, you couldn't mistake the unique flavor of the peas in this dish.

And of course, this recipe also met a critical criteria for me - it was incredibly easy to prepare.  Took just 15 - 20 minutes to get a great filling meal for two on the table.  

I will definitely be making this again and again.  In fact, I just bought a 2-lb. bag of dried black eyed peas because I was so happy with this recipe.

Mexican-Inspired Black Eyed Peas

Ingredients

• 1 14-oz. can black eyed peas (or equivalent cooked beans from dry)
• 1.5 tbsp. olive oil 
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion
• 1 plum tomato, chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh jalapeno
• 1 pinch of garlic powder (or 1 clove garlic, minced)
• 1 pinch of dried oregano
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp. minced cilantro
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

• In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil on medium-high heat
• When hot, stir in onion and jalapeno, and saute until the onion becomes translucent (approx. 4 minutes)
• Stir in the chopped tomato, oregano, and garlic powder / minced garlic, and cook down for 2 - 3 minutes or until tomato is heated through and starts to break down
• Add in the black eyed peas and 1/4 cup of water.  Cook on medium-high heat until the beans are heated through (approx. 5 - 7 minutes) and the water mostly evaporates. 
• Garnish with cilantro, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste
• Serve immediately on it's own, or place a desired amount into heated tortillas for tacos or enchiladas

Roberta's Pizza Dough - Followed the Directions This Time, But Still a Lackluster Result

Five years ago, I made a sort-of attempt at the famed Brooklyn restaurant Roberta's pizza dough.  As documented on this very blog, this fake attempt was declared as such because I didn't use the right flour, nor did I have a scale at the time to properly measure the ingredients.  The result matched the lackluster effort - a hard-to-shape, sticky dough that produced a poorly shaped and blandly flavored pizza.  

Realizing a few years later that I now possessed the required missing elements - proper flour and a scale, I finally re-attempted this dough (recipe courtesy of Serious Eats) a few weeks back.  

And just to make sure I didn't mess it up the first re-attempt time, I tried it again a few days later using a room temperature rise instead of a fridge one.  Unfortunately, both attempts resulted in a baked pie that just wasn't too my taste.  Maybe I didn't bake the pies at the right temperature, but they were simultaneously very chewy and cracker-like as if both under and over-done.  The slices took a few too many chews to swallow, and the flavor wasn't as developed as some of my other cold-rise pizza doughs.

Oh well.  Back to the drawing board!  But at least with a scale, this recipe was relatively easy to construct.  Combine dough, rest, knead, rise, roll, and then bake!

As I mentioned above, I did one rise in the fridge (the above images) and then let the dough come to room temperature (pictured immediately above this text).  The other rise (pictured immediately below) is from doing a single rise at room temperature on my kitchen counter top.

Sautéed Squash Ribbons - a Unique and Wonderful Summer Treat

I don't remember how I found this recipe, but I am glad I did in the waning days of summer.  This Cook's Illustrated Sautéed Summer Squash with Parsley and Garlic recipe was the most unique preparation of summer squash I have seen. 

The squash is peeled into ~1 inch wide ribbons (beautiful!), flash sautéed, and then dressed with a lemon-olive oil dressing.  That's it!

At first, the squash tasted almost too lemony and tart, but as it cooled, the flavors mellowed out and were fantastic.  I omitted the parsley, which I didn't have on hand, and I think that any sort of herb would be great to add to this dish.  In the future, I can see myself doubling the recipe and serving it as a summer dinner or lunch party side dish.

Milk Street Cauliflower Dengaku - Using Up That Miso for a Sweet-Savory Dish

It's really hard to use a tub of miso.  At least for me.  And the best / worst part is that miso can stay in the fridge for a year without spoiling, so in addition to being difficult to use up, the tub constantly taunts me because there is no reason to throw it away after a few weeks (or months).  

My latest miso-based recipe was Milk Street's Cauliflower Dengaku, a sweet-savory roasted cauliflower dish that also features a nice crunch and sharpness from loads of fresh, chopped scallions and cilantro.

As I was looking at my recipe notes, one of my first entries was "probably won't make again" followed a few lines later, "actually will probably remake."  The difference was that when the cauliflower cooled, more of the flavors came out - from the grated ginger, the rice vinegar, and the honey.  The cauliflower consumed immediately post-ingredient-tossing was a bit more one-note, with the white miso and the scallions being the dominant flavors. 

I also found the recipe a bit mild, so I added some of the Japanese 7-spice chili pepper for more spice and flavor, which I think will be a must add for me moving forward.  I also slightly reduced the amount of scallions to what I perceived to be an appropriate amount, and omitted the pistachios and sake, which I didn't have on hand (instead increased the rice vinegar to make up for the sake exclusion).  I may potentially reduce the amount of sauce moving forward, because some of the sauce pooled at the bottom of the dish post-tossing as well.

The recipe felt more complicated than I would have liked while I initially made it, though in hindsight it really wasn't that bad.  I think the key moving forward is to make sure I am not hungry will preparing the dish :-)

Basically you cut and roast cauliflower in the oven, and then prepare the sauce while the cauliflower is roasting.

Also chop the scallions, cilantros and pistachios while the cauliflower is still in the oven.

Finally toss everything together, cool a bit to get the most nuanced flavors, and serve.

Summer Corn, Radish and Tomato Salad - and to Pull it All Together, Add Tortilla Chips!

While I subscribe to the online version of the Washington Post, I don't think I receive any emails from them about cooking, nor do I regularly check their lifestyle or food sections.  So I am not quite sure how I found their Corn, Radish, Tomato and Tortilla Chip Salad recipe, which looked so fantastic that I was determined to make it before summer produce past its prime. 

So in late August, I made sure to pick up the required ingredients at our local farmers market; boiled and chopped the ingredients; and then mixed everything together in heavy anticipation of what the result would be.

Thankfully the salad lived up to my high expectations - sweet from the tomatoes and corn, spicy from the scallions and radishes, and crunchy from the radishes.  And when I added the final ingredient addition to my portion - crushed tortilla chips - I got a wonderful saltiness in each bite.

I will definitely make this recipe again and again, particularly for large summertime gatherings, because even though I used fewer ingredients than called for in the original recipe, I still ended up with approx. 4 servings.  

I specifically used 3 corns of corn, which I brought to a boil before stripping off the kernels; one bunch of radishes, and one container of sunburst cherry tomatoes.

The only other ingredient modification I made was to increase the amount of apple cider vinegar to get the right level of tang I was looking for.

Summer 2020 can't come soon enough!

Roasted Green Beans - Great Weeknight Vegetable Preparation

I'm not sure what inspired me to make this simple roasted vegetable recipe, but whatever it was, I was incredibly pleased with the result.  Salted and crisp green beans and red bell peppers that required almost no work.  Yum!

I didn't really follow any measurements for this 22-minute oven roasting approach, just tossed a bit of olive oil and kosher salt with the green beans and bell pepper slices before putting them in a 450-degree oven.  

I tossed them once halfway through cooking, and then served immediately.  I was surprised by how crisp the vegetables ended up via this method, and how much the natural flavor of the green beans and bell peppers came through.  I wasn't just eating overcooked vegetables, rather felt like a better version of both vegetables.  Heat really worked wonders!  I look forward to making this simple side again and again!

Indian Cabbage in the Instant Pot - Dish Better Prepared in a Sauce Pan

With my Indian Instant Pot recipes on a pretty good roll, thanks to the Two Sleevers cookbook, I decided to give one of my simplest recipes - a stir-fried Indian cabbage - the Instant Pot treatment.

Unfortunately though, the result was a bit of a watery mess (see pool of water below), and resulted in a more mushy cabbage than I prefer.  This cabbage preparation also required a ton of salt to provide any sort of flavor, so I think Indian cabbage cooking is best suited for outside the Pot.

The recipe though is of course quite easy to prepare - saute the spices before adding the cabbage and then the frozen peas.  Total hands-on cooking time is maybe 5 minutes total.